World Championships System Review

Since there is no Canadian team in the Bermuda Bowl this year, I'm going to do some of what I do for research in blog form here. Since the material will be dry (no hands, no stories), I would understand anybody who skips the next twenty or so blog posts. However you might want to skim read the posts if you intend to enter the World Team Championships Predictor 2009 contest, at the Beer Card blog:

http://thebeercard.blogspot.com/2009/08/world-team-championships-predictor-2009.html

It seems Paul's blog should be named the Beer Card and Wine Prize blog but let's not quibble yet. Of course that would make this blog the Dry Bridge Items blog.

Once you've entered for wine, enter for books at the bridgeblogging site:

http://linda.bridgeblogging.com/?p=1371

Those are excellent prizes, and some team members this year will want to write "Win the Bermuda Bowl with me too".

The convention cards examined for the System Review are found in the systems folder of:

http://www.ecatsbridge.com/documents/docdefault.asp?page=2009Brazil

The worldbridge.org site will be used to search the participants and I find out there experience in world events:

http://www.worldbridge.org/people/

As players gain experience at world events, they get better at these events, feeling comfortable, and understanding what they need to do to make the playoffs.

Teams will be covered in alphabetic order, except for Mexico and Morocco, who will be left for the last as they don't have a full set of posted cc's yet, even this close to the event. Key gaps in a cc will be noted - that is where a cc is not clear or does not provide the necessary information. Ideally cc's should be submitted to a screening committee, that reviews the cc and asks for additional information as appropriate - the current setup of just accepting anything that is submitted can result in poor disclosure, and, in some cases, misinformation.

At the bottom of each post will be the running total of methods - after all teams are finished, the running total will present a picture of systems used in the Bermuda Bowl. For example, we will know in how many systems the 1C openings still promise 3+Cs.

The system review will present a summary of each system, and then note anything opponents should watch out for: that is methods they should have pre-determined defences to. BridgeMatters has simple defences to everything mentioned and if you want to know what any particular one is, please leave a comment to request. By simple, it does not been best. Since specialized methods are unlikely to occur in any particular match, it doesn't help a team much to employ sophisticated methods against infrequent methods. Instead a simple defence requires less effort to get ready, yet is good enough if it needs to be used that match. Often partnerships will have their own defences, and they should use them when they have them.

The best teams have super expert coaches such as the Kokish/Kraft team or the Martels, who prepare many pages of defences and notes about the opponents. Their level of detail is amazing, and the defences offered to their teams are state-of-the-art. For a top team, having coaches like these can be a critical success factor for winning.